At the Polish Open the top seed Davykenko just lost to Vassallo the world no 87, pulling out at 6-2, 3-6,1-2 down citing a foot injury.

Betfair have suspended payouts and launched an investigation due to unusual betting patterns: http://sport.guardian.co.uk/tennis/story/0,,2140899,00.html

Apparently the pre-match odds put Vassallo as the favourite. The report suggests that this is just one of several matches which punters are concerned may have been 'fixed'.

Let's hope that there is an innocent explanation for all this - although it does make you wonder as is should really only be the players who can give info about the outcome.

This one could run and run.

Has anyone on this board wondered about the outcome of any match they've watched?

any reason this is in the CCMD Barrystar - or would you like some friendly admin to move it somewhere more appropriate? :P

Yes please - no idea at all :coat:

(I've been longing to use that smiley)

I think it's all due to Flame's betting ... :)

It doesn't surprise me Davydenko is onvolved in this...

He had to get in the spotlight somehow didn't he!!

"You know who I'm talking about??! The Top Russian player.. no no not Safin.. no not Youhzny.. Small head, involved in dodgy betting scandal.. Ahh..... yes, can't remember him though.." :P

www.betfair.com - Click Forum, then Tennis, then scroll down a while until you see "***Davydenko- Vassallo Arguello Official Cheating Thread***". The guy who started it, Basketball Funds, knew exactly what was going to happen right from the start. If you can be bothered to read it, there's simply no question about it: Davydenko is a blatant cheat, and should be banned.

There's been a lot of clamour about the latest drug cheats at the Tour de France and the reputation of cycling has been dragged through the gutter again. However, this is nearly as bad - the only difference is that Sopot is hardly as prestigious in tennis terms as the Tour de France is in cycling. However, the real scandal is that this will end up brushed under the carpet, when Davydenko has been a top 3 player for a while (I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous, but he has). Tennis is dirty from top to bottom.

Thinking about it, that French Open SF against Federer is extremely suspicious (from No Weapons, not Fed) - he served for every set and oddly enough, looked like he just didn't want to win it. Turns out, he probably didn't.

I just saw a report on ths and Betfair said that Davy was the favourite at the start, not as Barrystar said. The suspicious bit is that after Davy won the first set confortably, a load of cash went on the other guy and the odds were just ridiculous. Unless folk thought Davy was injured and woudl lose, but I cannot say as I did nto see the match.

I personally doubt Davy would be wanting to get involved in throwing matches. He's a sound bloke. There are such circumstances as false leads on betting - they make the book maker more money. Mayeb Betfair is behind it? Never trust bookies.

I hate to point this out but just 'cos someone seems like they're nice, doesn't mean they don't cheat. Wise bought up the cheating in the Tour - this year a british guy - Brad Wiggins - ended up leaving the Tour after someone in his team (Moreni) was found positive. This is quotes from an article written by Brad after the Tour finished:

Personally, i think poor old Davydenko has an inferiority complex the size of Russia, and generally comes across as a miserable git in interviews, but that doesn't mean he's cheating.

Hopefully there will be a full investigation, but I suspect that in a week's time no one will care about it anymore.

Yes you are right Jo. :)

I really have no idea what has gone on here, it's just that if you'd asked me who would be most likely to be involved in throwing matches and dodgy betting scams Davydenko would not have sprung to mind at all. In fact none of the very top players would, I'd expect them to not want to damage their reputations and careers as they have too much at stake. I'd expect this sort of thing from a player who has less to lose and needs the money. Well it is all very odd, I doubt we will ever know the truth.

Anyway as the match was a retirement due to injury, I assumed it woudl be VOID and there woudl eb nothign to pay? Or is it a first set completed rule?

I was wondering the same thing - i figured an injury would mean it was all void. Wonder if there';s anyone around who can explain it???

What did interest me was this quote:

and also, reading that thread that Wise pointed out, the number of punters who were saying that they would stop betting on tennis because of the number of fixed matches, and also naming players in a "fixing league." Now obviously it could just be people annoyed because they keep losing bets, but i have heard of other allegations of match fixing and bookies refusing to pay out on tennis matches. :blink:

Really? :o Well I used to bet a fiar bit, not so much now. I realise that the only real winner is ever the bookie, you have to be damned lucky to beat them or very clever and systematic which is a lot of hard work and the return percentages are small so you need megbucks and i can't afford to risk them!

I do think that the bettign industry makes far too much money and because of that it leaves itself open to people trying to con them. In many ways I think good for them, cos I do take quite a dim view of bookmakers and the gambling industry in general. If someone were to giv eme insider info for a bet I'd be right in there. Sadly the only time someone claimed they were giving me a hot tip (and I suspected nto but stuck a few quid on it anyway as they seemed convinced) it finsihed last! roflmao

A few things here...

Davydenko is loaded - he's made a fortune from a very successful career, why would he risk it all in a dodgy betting scam in a minor tournament.

As others have mentioned, surely the match was void anyway due to Davydenko pulling out, so no money would have been paid out?

If those betting on the match were watching it, or had access to some form of text commentary, etc, there may have been reports that Davydenko was looking injured - hence all those bets on Vasselo Arguello to win the match. Perhaps a few people thought the odds were too good to resist, and it attracted a lot of 'word-of-mouth' recommendation on the betting exchanges.

Like I said before, I really doubt Davydenko would be involved in corrupt betting scams - he's more bothered about the US Open, where he's one of about half a dozen players who is in with a shout of making the final, providing he's in other half of the draw to Federer. Davydenko doesn't want to risk injury at US Open.

I don't think tennis is squeaky clean - I think there are betting scams going on, but I really can't see it at the highest levels - the top players get paid a fortune anyway - why bother throwing their career away for a bit more cash? I reckon there probably is some dodgy betting scandals going on, but they're more likely to be involving players outside top 50, journeymen players and the like.

My thoughts exactly. Davydenko is loaded indeed, he doe shave a shot at the USO and he's been consitent, improving on grass thsi year too. Why throw it all away? Not saying that proves he is totalyl innocent but it seems silly to me. :wacko:

What you said abotu him maybe looking injured after set 1 - did nto see the match but that is possible and word of mouth does spread. Tbh the bookies hate beign beaten and if they were beaten far and square they woudl still try and claim it was a fix to avoid paying out, so I just don't trust them .

I don't understand the controversy then - if no money would have been paid out anyway, then where's the problem :shrug:

It might have been that the match counted provided the first set was complete. I've used Betfair, i've a fellign that might be their rules. The rules on incomplete matches vary form bookie to bookie.

Yep, Betfair pay out if one set has been played, and in this case the players were in a third. So normally, those betting on Arguello would have won money.

re: Davydenko's actual guilt, people should really read up on this incident if they're going to spring to his defence. He was playing good tennis with no signs of any injury and cruised to the first set 6-2. Despite this, Arguello was somehow then the big favourite for the match, with over £7 million being bet on him. This was before he showed any signs of injury - it's a clear cut case. Davydenko is a cheat.

Like Jo says, if you read the thread I posted a link to (an arduous task, admittedly) there's a lot of scepticism and negativity concerning betting in tennis: the consensus is that nearly every match is fixed. You can obviously put some of this down to sour grapes, but there's probably an element of truth about it - if a former world number 3 is in on it, you've got to assume there are a lot of lesser ranked opponents also involved. Looking at Arguello's next match, he was a set and 4-1 up on Montanes and yet apparently Montanes was still favourite; surprise surprise, he came from behind to win. Gotta hand it to Arguello for his sheer brazenness though. :lol:

As for No Weapons' motive - yes, he's amassed a small fortune from winning tennis matches, but he's also one of the most unrecognisable figures ever to get so high in the rankings. He's behind Safin and Youzhny in terms of popularity in Russia alone, has a highly unremarkable game, and struggled to even get shirt sponsorship. It doesn't surprise me too much that he is involved, although pressure from the Russian Mafia is a possibility, in his defence. Also, he would certainly earn more from this scam than he would from a minor tournament like Sopot: just look at the betting figures and work it out. Betfair would have had to have paid out well over £5 million had it not so obviously fishy - it's safe to assume that Davydenko would have earnt at least a tenth of this amount for his part in the deal.

Your post is interesting Wise but would Davydenko want to get 'recognition" and media coverage from scandal? Surely not, as if proven guilty his career would be marred, maybe he would be suspended? :shrug: He\d need a bigge rmotive than that, and would have to come out of it cleanly, e.g. he highlights corruption in the game and becomes a kind of hero for it?

Interestingly you mention the Mafia - I forgot to mention this yesterday, I tough that was a possiblity too. They are very powerful in Russia so I hear. But also if the Mafia were behind this then they did a crap job of keeping it low profile. Bettign scams go undetected all the time, and the aim is nto to make it too obvious surely? :shrug: If so many matches are fixed, how comes this one became so obvious?

I'm not saying you are wrong, or me right btw. I just find it very hard to come up with a good reason as to why Davy would be party to this. As I say it is nto generating attnetion in the right way. Then fo course there is the money, it is indeed a small tournie and the cut would be more than hsi winnings are you rightly point out. Still nto sure that is what he would dld wish to do though, unless he is greedy? :shrug:

I'm horrified at the suggestion that most matches are fixed. Surely not? :yikes: Terrible. :( I guess it is possible at lower level tournies where few see these on TV etc. Thankfully though the one is see which I mainly slams and grass do appear to be fair matches. Some at Wimby this year were so dramatic and close that whoever had bene paid to throw it was cutting ti fine. Did Nadal chuck the last set against Fed? ;)

Not sure if this is what Wise meant, but a lot of the money in sports doesn't actually come from winning stuff - it comes from the sponsorship. if you win stuff, you get lots of money from various companies to put their logo on your T-shirt or whatever. If you're recognisable ie. like Federer, Nadal, Safin etc, then you're much more likely to get sponsorship. If, like Wise said, Davydenko is struggling to get sponsorship and earn the big money that you would expect to be earning as someone in the top 10, would that not be some motivation to perhaps throw a few matches?

With Davydenko, he plays more tournaments than pretty much anyone else on tour - he's in the top 10, does he really need to play 30 tournies a year? Or perhaps the money is a big motivator for him? if so, it could all come down to that basic human emotion - greed.......

Maybe he is greedy. All this aside, I do feel sorry for players who are top level and nto getting sponsorship. I'd feel hard done by if that were me, workign just as hard if not harder than others and earning much less. I wonder what his earnings are compared to those of Roddick, Fed, Rafa?

Hi SB, sorry for the lack of clarity in my last post. Sober I was not.

First of all... basically what Jo said. The money that Davydenko misses out on from lack of sponsorship, media interest can be easily recouped from a few dodgy deals.

Secondly, in citing Davydenko's lack of recognition, I wasn't trying to point out what he had to gain, rather what he didn't have to lose. No-one cares about the guy. Imagine if this had been Federer or Nadal accused of match-fixing - everyone would have been going crazy. Despite the ranking heights he's reached, it would appear that he still has comparitively little to lose in terms of reputation from it all. As it is, only 3 of us on this board actually seem to care about it.

It's difficult to say without being involved in the deal itself, but like with every illegal activity, there's always a chance of getting caught and the probability is that someone will get caught eventually. Perhaps these two just got unlucky? From the looks of it, the deal was leaked to far too many people - normally, the market for such a scam should have been much smaller to avoid detection. But just one 'insider' letting slip on a messageboard, and it'd spread like wildfire...

I'd say if we were going to throw accusations of greed around, Davydenko would be the first choice. Many people who follow tennis have accused him of just going after the money - look how many tournaments he played last year, for example. So greed would be a very likely cause in his case.

I'd say that this is undoubtedly not an isolated incident in tennis, but without resorting to slander, it's difficult to point at further examples. There's never any concrete proof either, but in this case it's gone from being a suspicious incident to a very obvious incident. I agree that it's surely less likely to happen in the Slams, but then again I look back at Davydenko's performance against Federer in the French Open semi-final and I'm certain that he tanked. Certainly though, I'd like to think that 99% of the real crunch matches were contested fairly.

As an aside, with another cycling comparison: some of the athletes there might be doping, but they're still trying their hardest. Personally, I find it more saddening that some of the tennis matches I've watched and enjoyed might have been contested between two players who just weren't putting any effort in.

Continuing this theme...the question is, how can it be proved that Davydenko cheated? It's not about what we think, it's about what can be proved.

If he's had a trainer on etc etc, there is no way anyone can categorically say that Davydenko threw the match.

All that can be said is that a huge amount of money was placed on a comparatively low-key match.

:shrug:

That's the problem - it's impossible to categorically prove that the match was fixed without one of the players speaking up, which is extremely unlikely to happen. Davydenko will undoubtedly get away with it scot-free because, although it's obvious that he fixed the match, it cannot be proven. Hardly a deterrent to other cheats, is it?

Anyone who reads all the facts and still seriously doubts that Davydenko threw the match though is pretty naive. £7 million on a match that wouldn't normally get £250,000? All placed against the guy who'd just won the first set with no problems whatsoever? Like I said before, that's progressed from being just suspicious, to being pretty clear-cut.

There is a definite whiff of :bs: about the whole event. Any reasoning on the whys and wherefores are pure speculation, as I doubt we'll ever hear the full story.

I am just surprised that no top players have decided to say anything about this - unless they have and I missed it?

Roddick made some pretty angry comments in the aftermath of the scandal, criticising any wrongdoers quite strongly, but I can't remember where I read the interview.

Speaking of the :bs: surrounding this tournament, Tommy Robredo has just won it. :lol:

EDIT: Just found the Roddick interview:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/...rticle_id=80549

Safin steals the show in this article though, with his response to the scandal:

""To be honest, I don't really care," Safin said after a quarter-final loss. "Whatever people do and whatever they want to do, I don't care.

"If the world collapses, I don't really care."

"I have enough problems myself. I can't worry about other people's problems."

:giggle:

Is Robredo in shock win as newsworthy as Kolya match throwing?! :D

Seriously, though - I wonder why so many players haven't commented? There was clearly something fishy going on, and Davydenko is a top player (I am talking ranking here, not whether or not he should be :) ) If I were Federer or Nadal, I'd have some comment. Unless they also think there is no concrete fact, so any comments could be thrown back at them...who knows.

** Roddick may not be the worlds greatest player, but I respect his honesty and candour. Hats off and salutations for this comment:

"If something is found that's shady, I for one will be extremely pissed off."

[QUOTE]""To be honest, I don't really care," Safin said after a quarter-final loss. "Whatever people do and whatever they want to do, I don't care.
QUOTE]

Hilarious!!!

Cheers for the reply. You were drinking were you? tut, tut, never catvh me doing that ;)

Well I do take all your points on board, makes sense enough to me. On the greed side though, what makes Davy seem more obviously greedy than others? I know he plays a lot of tournies and is that all greed do you think or merely to improve his ranking? Love or hate him, he has done well to reach world number 4 and is a very hard worker on the tour. I understand (and I may be wrong) that he came from a poor back ground and had a tough time getting into tennis. Had to travel with his brother or something when they were young to find somehwere to train, and that involved leaving his country and being away from his parents. This would affect his attitude to money - if he's never had it, he'd want to get all he could while he can for the future, his family etc. Can we blame him, esp. if he can't get the normal level of sponsors? Or , as is my experience of many less priviliedged people, there is a huge respect for money and earning it by honest means; feeling lucky to have it and feeling unable to 'cheat' for it, especially as they have more than they ever imagined possible already.

I don't know the answer, just food food for thought. :)

I hope they have not avoided commenting as they know it goes on or have been involved and think it best to keep quiet.

Going back to the cycling comparisons, when the big drug scandal hit nearly 10 years ago, what was really noticeable was the silence from most of the riders - very few people stood up and said "doping is wrong" (and in fact, a lot who did then turned out to be doping :shrug: ) Even now in cycling there's riders who won't condemn others for doping. In terms of tennis, if match fixing is rife in the tennis world, how likely is it that folks are going to speak out against it? The last thing the ATP wants is a cycling-stylee scandal with regards to match-fixing.

Oh, and i've finally found another match-fixing/betting scandal which I vividly remember - not quite as top-class as the davydenko one, but does anyone else remember the Berlocq/Bloomfield first round match in wimbledon last year?

EDIT: found another report on this as well:

Maybe players don't really care as long as any potential "fixing" is kept to lower league / lower status tournaments? The Davydenko episode was a lower grade tourno, the match DJ mentions below was early round/lower profile players..

Disappointing if that is the case, but probably the case? I think Safin probably captures the majority of player thoughts here "who cares?"

Roddick will soldier on, though, undaunted in his quest for the truth!

another article on last year's betting scandal. I suspect a similar thing will happen with the Davydenko scandal - the ITF will announce there isn't enough evidence to prove or disprove it, and things will carry on as normal.

He certainly came from an underpriveleged background, apparently he'd have had to work in the mines had he not made it on the tour. :yikes:

Your former reason is more likely - for every impoverished youngster who grows up to respect the values and morals of money, you'll get one who sells crack on a street corner or burgles houses etc...

Davydenko has worked extremely hard to get where he is from an unpromising start in life, but I don't think that makes it any less forgivable. He earns more than enough from the Tour to enjoy a settled life - and more importantly, think of the significantly poorer people who lose money from betting on him when he has no intention of winning...

A fair point.

Safin's comments, whilst funny, concern me actually. Hard to knwo whether he is serious or not as he is slightly mad :D but sayign you don't care is not the attitude. IMO players shoudl care, as it degrades their sport. Also, I expect the bookies will be watching even more closely after this, and suppose a player such as Safin is in a match that isn't a fix but where the betting pattern is slightly unorthodox - they coudl get accused of cheating too.

Totally agree - just the lack of silence from those (other than Safin and A-Rod) is quite concerning...as it could suggest they don't? :angry:

I think that Safin's comments are simply classic Safin which reflect his attitude towards tennis in general rather than being indicative of the majority of players.

Hopefully this whole debacle can be sorted with the good name of tennis still intact.

It's ironic that many a commentator has commented on how Davydenko is relatively unknown to the average tennis fan and looks more like a criminal than a tennis player! Innocent until proven guilty I know, but ironic nevertheless.

I would be a little more cautious.

Assuming for a moment that Davydenko *was* injured, and was feeling worried beforehand, isn't it just as possible that someone who knew about this spilled the beans? :shrug:

Considering how many people don't like Davydenko, I'm not surprised that so many have jumped to the conclusion that it was down to him personally. And maybe it was --- I don't know. But certainly I would rather wait and see what (if anything) comes out of the inquiry, rather than jump to conclusions.

I raised this because I think it has the potential to be the biggest thing that has happened in tennis this year. A sport MUST have credibility - the punters MUST believe what they are seeing. If a sport loses that credibility the effects can be dramatic, very quick, and extremely difficult to recover from. The TDF is such a circus that I think its chances are much better than those of tennis would be if people started thinking that there were betting scams. Tennis, an H2H individual sport, is very susceptible to cheating based on someone throwing a game. At least the cycling cheats are trying to win!

This does seem very fishy to me, and Davydenko is, in my view, about the most likely member of the top 10 to get involved from point of view of the temptation he faces (I am not commenting on his honesty). Yes, he has made a packet and done well, but he is frequently complaining about his lack of recognition and his inability to find sponsors. A crazy act of greed in a minor tournament to 'catch up' with his higher earning contempories is, in my view, a possibility for someone in his position. I repeat, that is not a comment on his honesty or character, it is merely a comment on the fact that of all the top players he probably faces more temptation to get involved in such a scam than the others having not caught the imagination of the tennis public at large or the public in his home country. Whether he has succumbed or not, I don't know - but there is clearly a case to answer at the moment.

What I hope is that there will be a very thorough examination, including his bank accounts and mobile telephone records so that either (i) the culprit is caught or (ii) we can be confident that whatever was the cause, it was not Davydenko throwing a match.

Like others I'd like to see the big players commenting on this.

ps. I was wrong when I cited pre-match odds, I just wrote it down wrong.

I'm giving Davydenko the benefit of the doubt til there's actually *proof* of wrongdoing - innocent until proven guilty eh? There's a few on here calling him a cheat, yet its all just heresay and rumour at the moment.

The sums of money certainly sound fishy, but Davydenko pulling out of the match with an injury seems very plausible to me. He's got two big Masters Events and US Open coming up - pulling out of the 1st round match is a normal thing to do - he probably agreed ages ago to do the tournament, felt perhaps not quite 100% but played 1st round to avoid being fined (so, yes, financially motivated, but not necessarily cheating).

So, wait and see what happens in the investigation, and at this stage there's no need to hysterically accuse him of being a cheat.

I can understand people really not wanting to believe that anything dodgy goes on in the sport that they love, and therefore wanting to defend it, but really, there comes a time when you have to just accept that there's something wrong.

MJT:

It's undoubtedly not just as possible that this was caused by someone spilling the beans about his injury. If all these bets had been placed at the start of the match, then yes, that would be a decent possibility. However, after Davydenko had shown no signs of injury in cruising to the first set - is it really likely that thousands of people would then decide to gamble on the injury suddenly hindering him? Come on...

Whether it was down to Davydenko personally or not isn't really the issue - the fact is, it's obvious that he has knowingly fixed a match and is therefore a cheat. I personally assume he was put up to it as opposed to initating the scam itself, but we'll never find out. The problem with saying 'let's just wait until the inquiry' is that the only way it can be categorically proven, is by an admission from Davydenko, which obviously won't happen. Sure, it might become more and more obvious that he's guilty (if that's possible) if they do as barrystar suggested and check phone records, bank details etc, but there's still no overwhelming proof. And then the inquiry will be stopped due to lack of concrete evidence, as shown by the Bloomfield vs Berlocq 'inquiry' which Jo posted, and no doubt you'll be saying that Davydenko was innocent.

MrInvisible:

Innocent until proven guilty is an admirable moral, but there are some occasions when it's clearly just nonsense. Let me ask you, what did you think of Ian Huntley's defence plea when accused of killing Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman?

Again, you raise a possibility concerning the injury which would certainly be vaild were it not for other circumstances. Why would 10 times as many people as usual have the brainwave that Davydenko was going to retire to save himself for later tournaments, just after he'd won the first set so easily? It doesn't add up, surely you see that?

And as for the inquiry, like I said earlier, without a confession it's almost impossible to prove. It'll be swept under the carpet so that everyone associated with tennis, from organisers to players to fans, can pretend that the sport is free of corruption. Which is understandable, but while we're being all morally correct about this, I'd much rather see the cheats outed as done in cycling, at the risk of defamation of the sport, to always thinking 'Is this match I'm watching actually real?'